Yesterdays entry about the paddling and the cup itself was probably a little boring. after all, there was only sports and no hoochie mamas shaking their booties. Hopefully I will do something about that with this entry. enjoy.

This weekend is the second most busy weekend of the year in the entire Whitsundays, both by day and by night.
even though they only had a single stage and only three regular bars/clubs here, it really felt like the good ol' Blues Festival back home. They had closed off part of the street and had street vendors selling food, tshirts and other stuff you would regret buying after a week.

I went out for a couple of drinks every night of the festival. because I worked on friday and sunday I mostly took it pretty calm and only had about three to five beers every night.

Some interesting things happened throughout the weekend though. I met up with Sarah, fellow instructor, and her two brothers on friday night. They are all from Scotland, and I thought Sarah had a pretty strong accent. that was until I met her brothers. I can understand almost everything of what they are saying when we are all sober and there's not much background noise. There is something completely different when we've had a couple of beers and we are listening to a band. it was quite funny. It was just like Robin Williams's standup act when he is talking about scots. It was brilliant. 

me: "So Chris.. what do you think of the band? do you like them?"
Chris: "Aye! 's arrhight, boh aye fhin… *something something*…perdy fukn laldy..*something*… idn'it?
Me:"eeh… come again please?"
Chris: "Aye! 's arrhight, boh aye fhin… *something something*…perdy fukn laldy..*something*… idn'it?
Me:" eehh… alright!

I just had to smile and wave probably one-third of the time I was talking to them.

After midnight I decided to go home, but before I made it all the way I met some friends. they convinced me to join them at this after party. I wasn't too keen on drinking more, but I joined them anyway. Besides.. they lived about 35 meters away from my door. I could hear some familiar blues melodies as I took off my shoes and entered. Three guys were playing instruments and singing the blues. it was great. and the three of us coming in were the only ones there. They played famous blues songs like "blue M&Ms are better than green", "Cucumberhead" and many more. One guy was playing the guitar, another the harmonica and the last dude was improvising a didgeridoo out of a vacum cleaner tube. hehe..  Even though the guys had been drinking for a while they were still pretty good. 

Sunday night was the best night for sure. all the paddlers were done with the races and they all went out to party. The closed off street was packed with people and the crowd was jumping from about eight o'clock at night. One of the teams that took part in this weekend was called up on stage to dance in front of the rest of the audience. I think I might start outrigging…

  

Halfway through the night I was talking to one of my former students, when suddenly the guy in front of us threw a tequila shot over his shoulder and almost hit me in the face. luckily it only hit my shirt. I looked over his shoulder as we yelled, and he immediatly appologized to us. he was very sorry and it was an honest mistake. he just didn't want to drink any more shots that people bought him. He asked us if we wanted drinks, and we tried to decline. Seconds later he was back with not only one drink for the two of us, but he also had about eight extra drinks with him that he also gave us.
oh the horrible fate. It turned out that he played in the warmup band and he got the drinks for free. good night. and I also got the day off on monday because of bad weather and no bookings. even better.

Last weekend, from Thursday to Sunday, we hadquite a spectacle on the island. It was the annual Powerade Hamilton Island Cup 2007, and it is the biggest outrigger regatta in the southern hemispere.  The island had about 1500 more guests than usual and every accomodation imagined was booked. There were about 90 different teams from all over Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Hawaii, and Fiji here to compete in many different events.  The outrigger canoe is a type of canoe that originatet here in the pacific

They competed during the day, and during the night there were several concerts and other festival activities. I was able to see the races up close sunday morning. That was the day for the main event, the 42 km marathon. They competed in 6 man canoes. Because of the distance they had 10 paddlers that took turns paddling and resting. During this race I was a part of the support crew for the mixed team from Hong Kong.

It was alot of fun and I got to see the race from up close. My job was basically to assist the team when they got in and out of the boat.  Because there were more than 90 teams, and each team had a support boat, and lots and lots of spectator boats the water was pretty much crowded. I am glad I didn't have to drive the boat , because there were people in the water and boats everywhere. there was a real chance of collision or running someone over if you didn't pay attention.
  

To my knowledge there were no accidents yesterday.

Here's the map over the local area and the route of the 42km marathon.

The southern end of the course was quite rough and we had some pretty heavy rain and thick fog in between Hamilton Island and Pentecoast Island. The team even rolled over after beeing hit by a rouge wave. You'd think that it would be pretty difficult to roll over with an outrigger, but it is still very possible. I saw several other canoes roll over as well. The winner of the mens division finished in just more than three hours. thats an average of 9-10 knots an hour, battling big waves, wind, and currents. pretty impressive stuff.

It is time for another update, and this time for a little more serious stuff. I spent
the last day back home in Notodden, southern Norway, with my dad and two of my
brothers. Tomas asked me what plans I had with this year. And I replied that I hadn't
really made up my mind on that yet. He told me to make full use of this year, and
don't just waste it on women, drinking and the occasional scuba dive.

While I didn't think of it at the time, a quote from the late George Best comes to
mind:
"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered."

funny guy, eh?

I have spent some time contemplating myu goals for this year.
Here's a list of some of the things I have set in mind:
– get lots of sea time and get my coxswain (boating certificate).
with the  certificate in hand alot more opportunities will open up for me

– work in a couple of different dive centers. (townsville?, cairns?) and get experience with lots of different aspects of the dive industry.
– improve my language skills. possibly brush up on my german. I will definatly pick up some japanese since alot of the customers are from the land of the rising sun. Aichan is also one of my housemates and she has promised to teach me some basics.

– get in to much better shape.
(have already improved my strength by lifting tanks every day.)

Do you guys have any suggestions for more goals?

Here's a satelite image of Hamilton Island which I borrowed from Google Earth.I have
added a couple of details. Catseye beach is about 600 meters long to give you a
general idea of the size of the Island.

It takes me about four minutes for me to walk down the hill in the morning and about ten to walk back.
You'll see the airport in the bottom left part of the island. it is rated as one of the most dangerous ones in Australia because of the water on three sides, and also because the approach is chock-a-block full of hills. I spoke to a pilot and he told me they never land without a visual on this one. I totally understand why

A couple of days ago I went up to Passage Peak with a friend of mine. It is the highest peak on Hamilton Island, and is about 350 meters above sea level. The walk up there is pretty easy, even though it is quite steep. The path is well maintained and a lot of people use it all the time. Supposedly the best time to go up there is either
four in the afternoon or four in the morning. that way you can catch the sunrise or sunset, whatever tickles your fancy. Once you're up there you get a spectacular view of the surrounding area. enjoy the pictures.

  
The last picture above is of the nest of a colony of Green Tree Ants. pretty cool little critters. they don't taste too bad either. 😛

Last time I checked my email I was down at Toucan Tango's, a local restaurant. They've got wireless LAN there, and it is free and pretty fast too. anyway.. I was sitting at a table drinking a Carlton Draught (pronounced "Draft"), when a waiter suddenly ran past me. He was chasing a Possum and it really didn't want to leave. The waiter went
back when he thought the possum was gone, but because the restaurant doesn't have either windows or doors, it returned within minutes. I didn't really pay much attention to it, but suddenly I heard something right next to my head. the little critter was climbing up the lamp I was sitting next to. I grabbed my camera and got a pretty good picture of it. Even after beeing around them for a couple of months now I still find them interesting.
Maybe I should've studied Biology.

The first month I worked here on Hamilton Island I had two days off. The shop was pretty busy and we were short on staff. Now it is less busy and we've got more staff, so I have got 6 days off in the last 10 days. A day off is nice, but this is too much. I still need the money to pay my bills. Because nobody has a contract we don't get
payed id there is no work. There is another company on the island that also does trips out to the reef, and they supposedly pay more, have a standard contract, and can guarantee work. I really like the place I am working at now, but If it doesn't pick up I will have to do something about it. My housemate Scott tells me that school vacation
is coming up and work will pick up again pretty soon. but still.

Yesterday I went fishing with a couple of the people at the diveshop. We went out with the glassbottom boat and it was pretty cool. The sun had just gone down and it was almost pitchblack except for the stars. oh and the lights on and under the boat. it is pretty cool to light up the water underneath the boat and look at the corals. unfortunatly we didn't see any fish. just a bunch of different corals, and the occasional giant clam.

we did some fishing outside the airport, and I am glad they don't land any planes here after dark. an approaching jumbojet 30 meters above our heads would probably be quite intense.

After landing a couple of nice fish I felt something really big on the hook. it was alot heavier than the previous fish I had caught, so I was supprised to see an eel when I brought it up to the surface. I had hooked it in the stomach, and that caused it to be pulled up sideways, and that's why it felt so heavy. I lifted the eel into the boat, and when I tried to grab it by its neck, the little fucker turned around and sank its teath into my wrist. The damn fish locked its mouth and clamped down. It felt like a pair of pliers with teeth. the teeth were pointed backwards, so I couldn't just pull my hand out. I grabbed it by the neck with the other hand, and slowly pried open the jaws and got my hand out.

I started to bleed a little from my hand, and it became a little swollen. but other than that I was fine. we got out a camera to capture the moment. I'll post the pictures tomorrow or something. I'm at an internet cafe at the moment.

Last week a canadian customer on the boat asked me why the crows only come out at night. I had to inform her that what she thought were crows are fact large fruitbats. hehe…..

Edit:
here are a few pictures from the incident. enjoy
  

Scott looked it up in a fishbook and it is a juvenile Giant Snake Eel.  They grow up to be approximately 2,5 meters long. I'm glad it wasn't very big at all. Our skipper Jason informed me that I was lucky the bite didn't get infected. fishbites usually get infected apparently.

Here's a picture of one of my neighbors. don't know her name yet, but she is pretty friendly and has walked straight into our living room several times.


She is a Possum  and carries around a young one in her pouch. very curious and investigative little critters these possums. they will plunder the trash, and if they can get into your house they will have a field day. together with the cockatoos    They are the major pest of the island.
cute, but really a pain in the ass. fortunatly not literaly. 😛

Here are my new neighbours. I moved in with these guys last week, and it sure is alot better than the old place. Scott (kiwi) and Aichan (japanese) are fellow diving instructors at H2Osportz and we get along great. good people.

Today has been an interesting day. Today was the Triple Treat adventure, which is
alway a nice and easy day. got out of bed about 6 o'clock in the morning, and went
down to the shop about 0715. Today we didn't have any people doing the Discover Scuba
Diving course, so we all just cooked todays lunch. we always make the same stuff, and
you might think we would get tired of eating the same stuff every day. but no. the
food is superduper delicious. potatosalad with egg and bacon, pastasalat, fried rice,
grilled chicken, tossed salat, and some sausages.

At around 9 the guests started to arrive, and my job is to fit them with fins, masks
and wetsuits (if they want one). at around 9:30 we departed the marina and set sail for HAzelwood Island and chalkies Beach. At Chalkies Beach I did open water dive 3 and 4 with a student. I must say that having
less than four students is just a dream. it is almost just like having fun dives with some skills included.Today I saw a couple of sea slugs or nudibranchs I haven't seen before. pretty cool stuff.

We went up to Hill inlet and did the walking trails. (check the previous post for some
pictures). Today we saw a couple of sharks from the lookout. One was pretty big.
probably between two and three meters long, and it was just cruising along in the
shallow water. Bull sharks or Tiger sharks will go up in the shallows during high
tide. So will the stingrays to feed of the crustaceans and small fish. Not only did we
see that one big sharks, but we also saw about five other smaller sharks. pretty cool
stuff.

On our way down we met a Goanna in the bush. It was a little more than a meter long and were just crawling along at a slow pace. I stood still and the lizard passed me at a distance of only three meters or so. Haven't
been that close before, and it was pretty cool. My camera just happened to still be on the boat. Damn it!  

On the way home to Hamilton Island I talked to our skipper Jason about the saltwater
crocodiles. The island is located only 25 nautical miles away from the Prosupine
River, which is the home to about 350 salties. Jason told me that the dominant male
crocodiles will claim a stretch of the river. The smaller ones will be driven away,
and we already got at least two salties living in the waters around Hamilton Island.
Supposedly they are only about a meter long, so they are not a threat. Not yet anyway…
 😛

Todays sunset. pretty, eh?

Tomorrow we are headed out to Bait Reef again. I have two other students, and we are doing open water dives 3 and 4. It will be a good day for sure.

Yesterday I certifyed my two first open water divers. The course was alot of fun and we had about 7 students I believe.
Some of them are already certified, some are halfway through their course and I certified the other two yesterday. We did open water dive 3 and 4 in local water around the islands. the visibility was below 3 meters, and they
were a little disapointed, but I told them that shitty viz is good for training. it teaches you to stay close to your buddy, swim slowly and relax. and besides… we did se alot of cool stuff anyway. like a moray eel, a really big ray, some clownfish, and some kind of sea snake. and last but certainly not least we found a nudibranch. havent seen them here in australia before.

Today I had the day off. the second day off in three weeks. I really don't mind working, but I must say that I really appreciated the day off. I went to the mainland and got some clothes, a pair of running shoes and some other stuff I needed.

When I came back to the island I hooked up with Damir again. we had agreed to do some martial arts practice and we met up in the gym. he taught me some kung fu moves, and I (tried) to teach him some judo. after we were done he taught a class in the gym. today he taught stretching, toning and a mix of pilates and yoga. lots of different forms of pushups and situps. It was great. my first training session since I got on the island. I will go to next weeks practice for sure.

  
These pictures are from Hill Inlet, a very beautiful and scenic part of Whitsunday Island and Whitehaven Beach.
Not the worst place in the world.

Some times kids or worried adults ask us if there are any sharks in the water, and if they are a problem. Usually we tell them that they don't have to worry because the saltwater crocodiles eat the sharks. hehe..
The sharks are no problem because they are only small and they are mostly reef sharks.

the crocstory is not however very far from the truth. Prosupine River is not far from here , and there are about 350 salties in that river. The river is located just west of Cedar Creek Falls, and Conway Beach on the mainland. Our skipper told me 
yesterday that the salties sometimes swim out to hamilton island. usually it will be the case of young males being chased off by the larger dominant males in the area. I will definetly do the croc safari the next time a get a day off. or maybe I should wait for Torkel. he will be here in about a month, and I can't wait.

oh well. until next time.

I know you guys like the pictures more than my semi-coherent ramblings, and I will therefore post more of them in the future. starting with today.
  
Here is a couple photos of the marina. There are lots of really expensive yatchs and sailboats ankered here. some of the boats are in the 10 million dollar price range and up. a friend of mine works as a dive instructor/skipper on board one of them, and he is bored. Not because he doesn't like his job, but because the owner doesn't like to do much when he decides to use the boat. he just reads his newspaper, sunbathes on the upper deck and may take the boat out for an overnight trip. It sure sounds like the guy has got way to much money. He's got a really expensive boat (with a crew of three) on standby, and he rarely uses it.
  
This is the main street on Hamilton Island. The island has the highest concentration of golf buggies in the world. (I might have mentioned it before), and they are all over the entire island. Supposedly there are more than 600 buggies here.

 
The Dive Shop. nuff said. 🙂

Sunset last week.

That's all for now folks…..

Oh and last but certainly not least a picture of my eye. it was taken the day after the fight sunday a week ago. Enjoy. 

When I walk to work in the morning I usually listen to my MP3-player. Usually I
will be listening to a live concert with Counting Crows, or good ol' Bon Jovi.
This morning was no different. As I was walking along a frightened a little
wallaby (small kangaroo) that was having breakfast in the bushes next to my
neighbors house.
They just make me smile. usually they are only out and about after dark, but
this one was a bit more bold. I saw another one on my way home not so far away.
I think it was the same one. This time I stopped and tried to talk to it, and it
was intrigued for a little bit. after a minute or two it skipped off into the
forest.

Today was a good day. I got to work at about nine in the morning, two hours
later than usual. I started late because we only had an afternoon trip and not
the usual full day trip. We can thank the weather for that. it has been kind of bad lately.
This morning I started in the pool with two introdivers before we went out on the halfday trip

The last week we've had lots of rain. And I mean real rain. this is the tropics and when it rains it
really rains for sure. You can't walk more than a couple of meters before you
are totally soaked.

We have also had South East winds between 20 to 35 knots the last week. That has
prevented us from going out to The Great Barrier Reef and Bait Reef more
precise. The boat could handle it for sure, but the people on board would
probably not enjoy it too much. three hours boatride with waves between two to
four meters is not a joke. especially if you're a tourist and you want to have a
relaxing vacation.

We have therefore just stayed around the Whitsunday Islands for the last week.
which is just fine. The visibility is usually between five to ten meters, but
the last week it has been less than three meters. very much like home except for
the corals, the tropical fish and the turtles. 😛
Yesterday we also had some dolphins play around the boat. I didn't see them
because I was diving with some sertified divers, but I'll catch up with them
some other time.

This is The Reef Spirit. The big dive boat that we use on the fullday
trips or trips with more than 15 passengers.

when I got home and took care of my laundry I found a really big centipede
hiding under one of my socks. it was cool. If I could I would send it to my
brother Björn, cause he would really get a kick out of it.

 
Today we went out with Wild Dream. it packs two 150 horsepower outboarders and is a pretty fast going vessel.

 My eye is almost back to normal again. I only have a little bruise left and the cut has healed properly.

This is the second entry today, and there is a good reason for that. Some aspects of my weekend was really good, and other aspects were really bad.

Friday
went out to Bait Reef again. dove with resortees in the morning, and was a snorkelguide in the afternoon. I have discovered that snorklers don't stay near if I tell them it is important for they own safety. They do stay close if I tell
them that I know where all the cool stuff is, and they stay even closer if I free dive down to 10 meters and hang around under water for about a minute. impressed people are pretty easy to keep close.
 
That night we all went out and all the students from the open water course were all over me. they wanted pictures, my email, and I basically felt like a movie star. I can understand that alot of instructors abuse their Godlike status.
😉

Saturday
this is the day for the triple treat adventure. that is a full day trip around the whitsunday islands with three stops. hence the name. first we went to Tounge Bay where we went ashore. We trekked through the dense tropical forest to the top of the hill where there is a lookout point. The view is spectacular and you can see the entire 6 km stretch of Whitehaven beach down below.

Then we went down to the beach below and hang out there for a while. I had company of a new girl named Vanessa and we got along really well. After about an hour or so we went back to the boat for lunch. after lunch we dived at chalkies beach. I had company of two open water students and a discover scuba diver. The
visibility was really crappy. maximum 2 meters. but there is always alot of fish at this spot. After the dive we went across the bay and goofed off on White Haven Beach for a while. an hour later we were on hour way home.
back at the marina Vanessa, Steve, a new guy named Damian and myself made plans to go out later that same night. During dinner with steve I understood that Steve didn't feel to good. he was feeling down, depressed, and didn't want to join us. I tried to cheer him up but it didn't work so I just left. he said he
would stay home.

I met Vanessa and Damian and we went to the Yatch Club. that is the place to be on saturday nights, mainly because of the karaoke. it is a pretty average pub, situated down on the main street right next to the marina. Alot of people go there and it is always alot of fun. this night was no different. I had heaps of fun together with Damian, Vanessa and a lot of other people from the dive shop.I had a great time and when the pub closed at twelve we moved on to Boheme's, the local nightclub. after a glass of water Vanessa and I left. we went and got
something to eat. And this is when the night turned from really good to really really bad.

A van pulled up, and Vanessa went over to ask the driver if he could give her a ride home. I was right behind her, and was really surprised when Steve got out. he looked at both of us and asked us what was going on. he suddenly walked off, and I could tell he was really upset. I went after him, but he totally ignored
me and his pace increased. He picked up a chair and threw it across the street. Vanessa saw this and was also really worried. we talked for a bit and after a while I went home. I thought that he would have cooled down, but I was wrong.

I opened the door and Steve was out on the porch smoking a cigarett. before I could say hello he started to scream at me:" You Cunt! you fucking Cunt!Get away from me! I'll fuck you up!"
And with that beeing said he jumped through the room and threw a haymaker punch at me. I was stunned and parried the fist with my left eye. I blacked out for a semisecond but was still able to grab him and take him to the ground. I landed on top of him but he was able to get me in a headlock. he tried to choke me, but it was obvious that he didn't have much experience on the ground so I wasn't  really worried. I became more worried when I felt my face was all warm and wet and saw all the blood on the floor. he fucking split my eyebrow. I shouted that
he should calm down and let me go. I tried to calm him down and pretty soon the neighbors came knocking on the door. unfortunatly he didn't let me go and he didn't calm down either. I let him continue trying to apply his rather poor choke and tried to calm him down. I called for the neighbors to come in and help me, and Damir from across the hallway came in.

he tried to talk to steve, but he only got more pissed off. When Steve started to elbow me in my back I
understood that he wouldn't calm down on his own. I had to do something. At this stage I still wasn't very angry. But now I was fed up. I threw a couple of knees and probably hit him on his thigh, side or kidneys. He let me go and I jumped up on my feet again. The commotion pushed Damir out of the room. Steve followed me and went for me again. and this time I hit him with as many fists as I possibly could. most of them missed and I am not really sure where I hit him. most of this is still quite blurry. I grabbed him again in a standing clinch and used my knees on him again. still not sure where I hit him, but I know that at least one of them him him pretty good in his side. I probably got one in his nuts as well. I  stopped and tried to talk to him again, still holding him as tight as I possibly could. he tried to knee me in the groin but I blocked him. He didn't attack me any more and just
cried on my shoulder. he was sobbing. The closet door fell down during the fight and blocked my way out and I couldn't just let Steve loose. I didn't know what he would do. He might pick up a weapon or something. I rotated slowly around maneuvring into position to remove the closet door without letting Steve go. As soon as I got the door freed up I pushed Steve away and got out of the room.

In the hallway a couple of people looked at me as I came out. I couldn't have been a pretty sight with blood all over my face, tshirt, and pants. One of the guys helped me to the bathroom so I could wash off. After about 5 minutes the security showed up and I got patched up. after giving them my statement at their office I was dropped off at a friends house.

The next day Steve was fired and shipped off the island in a matter of hours. I have a cut above my left eye and probably should have gotten a couple of stitches, but because the medical center was closed I still haven't been
stitched up. Now it is too late, but I don't think it really matters that much. it still only a minor cut, and I will be fine in about a week or so. unfortunatly I can't dive before the eye has healed properly. But that's alright. there is plenty of work in the shop and I can always be the deck watch for a couple of days.

The whole thing is really sad because I thought I had found a good friend in Steve. We got along really well and I liked him alot.He told me alot of crazy stories about his life and I understood that he hasn't had it easy. That doesn't exuse his totally crazy behaviour and I don't think I can ever trust him again. he snapped over a minor thing that didn't even happen and couldn't be reasoned with at all. pretty scary stuff in hindsight. I am really glad he didn't have a bottle or a knife in his hand. If he did I might not have been here today.

I am equally glad I have practiced judo for a couple of years. that pretty much got me out of the situation.

But life moves on. Life here on Hammo is still good, and I am still pretty exited about everything here.

Don't worry, Mom. I am alright.